Return of Title IV Funds Policy

If a student officially withdraws from the institution, the last date of attendance is the date the student begins the official withdrawal process and/or notifies the institution of his/her intent to withdraw. The date from the Add/Drop form(s) will be used as the last date of attendance for the course. The institution is informed of these students on the Complete Withdrawal Report.

Unofficial withdrawals occur when a student drops from a course without notifying the institution; the last date of attendance must be determined. Arriving at the date involves a monitoring process whereby class attendance is checked at specific intervals and confirmation from instructors is sought. The attendance checkpoints occur at ten (10) and twenty-five (25) days into the term and at midterm. If a student has ceased to attend all classes at any of these three (3) checkpoints, the last date of attendance/withdrawal date will correspond with the checkpoint date.  The institution is informed of these students on the Complete Withdrawal Report. Instructors may also report these students as withdrawn by assigning a grade ‘F’ at the end of the course. Instructors that assign a grade ‘F’ will be required to input the student’s last date of attendance. The date recorded will be used as the student’s last date of attendance in the course. The institution is informed of these students on the Sat Prog by Term and Packaging Group report. For unofficial withdrawals, the student’s date of withdrawal will be determined by the Financial Aid Office no later than 30 days after the end of the payment period.

Some IECC students may be enrolled in a program offered in modules, or courses that do not span the entire payment period. A student is considered a withdrawal if the student ceases attending ALL courses at any point prior to completing the payment period or period of enrollment, even if a module course has already been assigned a grade. There are two exceptions.

• IECC will request written confirmation from the student whether or not s/he will attend a module later in the same payment period if it remains on the student’s schedule. The future course must begin no later than 45 calendar days after the end of the module s/he ceased attending.
• If the student does not return after providing written confirmation, the student is considered withdrawn and the withdrawal date would revert back to the original last date of attendance.
• The student may also drop a module that s/he has not yet begun attendance on the last scheduled date of the current module and would not be considered withdrawn.

Students withdrawn from a module program are identified on the Module Enrollment Report.

The payment period will be used in all R2T4 calculations. The Financial Aid Officers Committee will review the number of days in the payment period for Part of Term 1 when creating the disbursement schedule excluding a scheduled break of 5 or more consecutive days. However, for a student enrolled in a module program with Part of Term 2, Part of Term 3, and/or Part of Term Y courses, the payment period is equal to the total number of calendar days that the student was scheduled to complete excluding any scheduled break of 5 or more consecutive days.

If a student withdraws before beginning attendance in the number of credit awards for which the Federal Pell Grant and Campus-Based funds were awarded, IECC will first recalculate the student’s eligibility based on a revised Cost of Attendance and Enrollment Status. Any aid that was overpaid will be returned prior to the R2T4 calculation. Title IV Aid that was disbursed will then be the remaining paid amount following the recalculation.

There are two principles that govern the treatment of disbursements of Title IV funds in R2T4 calculations. First, as long as the conditions for late disbursements are met prior to the date the student became ineligible, any undisbursed Title IV aid for the period of the R2T4 calculation is counted as aid that could have been disbursed. Second, a student can never receive a post-withdrawal disbursement of funds from a disbursement that the institution was prohibited from making on or before the date the student withdrew.

When a student is considered a withdrawal, the amount of Title IV aid is determined by a specific formula.

• The percentage of the period a student completes is equal to the number of calendar days attended divided by the number of calendar days in the student’s period.
• Earned aid is equal to Title IV aid that was or could have been disbursed multiplied by the percentage completed.
• Unearned aid is equal to any Title IV aid disbursed (after recalculation) that exceeds the amount earned.

If not all earned funds have not been disbursed, the student may be eligible to receive a Post-Withdrawal Disbursement. If the student has signed a promissory note and a portion of the earned funds includes a Direct Loan, IECC must have the student’s permission to make the disbursement. IECC will automatically disburse earned grant funds for outstanding tuition, fees, and bookstore charges. Bookstore charges are only considered institutional charges and covered by Title IV aid when a student has signed a Title IV Authorization form. IECC will offer a disbursement of earned grant funds to a student when the earned amount exceeds outstanding charges.

If a student withdraws during the Add/Drop period or has no remaining outstanding institutional charges, IECC will notify the student within 10 days that aid has been earned and request authorization to make a disbursement. All post-withdrawal disbursements will be made within 45 days of the date the Financial Aid Office determined the student withdrew. Earned grant funds that could have been paid will be disbursed prior to disbursing earned loan funds.

All unearned funds will be returned by IECC within 45 days of the date it was determined the student withdrew. This may cause a balance on the student’s account. The Financial Aid Office will notify the student of the R2T4 with the balance owed to IECC. The Business Office will notify the student of the balance owed with a bill.

Funds will be returned in the following order:

1. Direct Unsubsidized Loan
2. Direct Subsidized Loan
3. Direct PLUS loan
4. Federal Pell Grant
5. Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
6. Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant

If a student is eligible for aid to be paid and there is no balance on the student’s account, the student will be notified in writing to determine if they would like the aid disbursed to them directly. Disbursing the aid may impact the students Pell Lifetime Eligibility.  If a student is eligible for aid to be paid and there is a balance on the student’s account, the aid will be applied to the student’s outstanding charges. Disbursements will be made as soon as possible to students accounts and no later than 14 days after the determination the student is a complete withdrawal.